Tag Archives: de-cluttering

Yesterday I shared a guest post talking about the 12 spring-cleaning chores you shouldn’t miss. Today I am continuing the discussion about spring-cleaning. Spring is always a busy time for me, it’s time to get out in the garden and start cleaning up after the long winter. It’s time to sort through my seeds and figure out what needs to be planted now!

However, with our home on the market I am finding it a challenge to keep the house in order because one of these days we’re going to get a showing! Perhaps you’ve heard of the KonMari Method? Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizing consultant and author. She’s written four books on organizing and has sold millions of copies!

I was given one of her books and have only skimmed through it. She does have a lot of good ideas! She often asks you if a certain item gives you joy and if not toss it out. This has prompted several memes on the Internet!

One key point I have taken to heart is getting rid of the clutter! I’m amazed at the clutter that has accumulated over the years. Until something major happens we don’t even realize how much stuff we’ve accumulated! Planning our move is forcing me to declutter and I hope to be able to move on free from the weight of all these items that have outlived their usefulness to us.

Each week I tackle a certain area of our home. I am currently working on our family room. I keep telling myself “I want to live clutter free”. First order of business sorting thorough the boxes of children’s artwork I have saved! My husband is an artist and all four of our children inherited his talent, which has resulted in my saving way too many pieces of artwork. As I go through the box I am taking pictures of the artwork I really love and then it’s ready to be tossed. Or if I think it is particularly good I will ask our grown children if they want it!

Once you have decluttered you can then organize your space so that you are left with only the items you really love. I am not quite to that step yet, but we’re getting there. At least the house is looking cleaner and less cluttered and ready to someone to come look at, fall in love and make an us offer!

Have you read any of Ms. Kondo’s books? Have you tried her method of tidying up your home?

Whether you’re putting your home on the market or just wanting to get rid of some of the “stuff” that accumulates over the years there are some small steps you can take to make the process a little easier! Two of my favorite blogs: Organized31 and One Hundred Dollars a Month have been discussing de-cluttering this year. Both blogs have some great ideas.

Organized31 wrote a wonderful series of posts on 31 Days of 10-Minute Purging Tasks. The timing on her posts couldn’t have been better. Each day she would tackle an area and in just ten minutes you could have that area organized and de-cluttered. As you went through the various areas in your home you would take action by either relocating an item to another area of the home, placing the item in storage, giving the item away or returning it to the original owner, donating the item, recycling the item or throwing the item away. What I loved about Susan’s method was that it took only ten minutes a day.

Here is just one example of Susan’s 31-Day Purging Tips. Day three was plastic containers and lids. Who doesn’t have a drawer full of containers and lids? Somehow it always seems like you end up with more lids than containers! Her first step was to remove everything out and match up the containers with their lids. Then place similar items together. Then evaluate each group you’ve created. Do you need to keep all those containers without lids? Are there containers that are stained or warped? Now purge! Then put everything you’ve decided to keep back away in an organized fashion.

I tried to keep up with each area every day. I wasn’t always successful but it was a good start on de-cluttering our home.

Mavis of One Hundred Dollars a Month also has some good ideas when it comes to de-cluttering. As you might guess from the name of her blog, Mavis has numerous ideas on how to save money! She also keeps track of her goals and one of her goals for 2016 is to Get Rid of 1,000 Things! One of her goals for the year is to simplify and sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding her closets and drawers by the end of July. Her ultimate goal is to find a home for every item by repurposing, selling, donating or finding a way to recycle her unwanted stuff without incurring any costs.

What a wonderful goal. I am just starting the de-cluttering process and I have a long way to go! I can easily get overwhelmed but instead I take one day at a time and tackle just one area each day. Lately I’ve been going through the many, many photo albums I have! Not only do I have our own family photo albums, but I have also inherited all my parents’ albums. I love the old family albums but I don’t need the albums of the various trips my mother took with my stepfather later in life. Those I will pass along to my sister.

De-cluttering is not an easy process, but if you just take it one step at a time it can be done!